Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders review: Watch out for that tree

Developer Megagon Industries had a hit on its hands in 2019 with Lonely Mountains: Downhill. The idea was that it had players take a leisurely bike ride down a series of mountain trails in a pressure-free environment while also providing some laughs from the inevitable momentum-driven collisions with blunt objects. Six years later, the studio has returned for a more winter-themed excursion called Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders, which trades in the first game's bicycle for a pair of skis. The result is a serene and fun-filled, if somewhat imperfect, ride and one that gets even better when experienced with others.

Avalanche

Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders puts players on top of a series of skyward peaks and has them ski down across a series of checkpoints to a finish line. While every checkpoint needs to be crossed, players are welcome to take the recommended route or try their luck with some shortcuts. Whatever the routing choice, the terrain proves dangerous. There are rock formations, trees, and steep drops that often lead to some gnarly spills. That's part of the fun, in fact. Megagon knows that players are going to crash, so a lot of the game's appeal comes through its ragdoll physics and the pained noises that come out of the hapless skier as they hit an object with an echoing thud. To the game's credit, constant failure doesn't feel frustrating, especially since players can see the leftover ski tracks from their previous attempts, offering somewhat of a guide for their next try.

Snow Riders can take some time to get used to because the momentum-based physics operate slightly differently than they do with its predecessor. Maneuvering on skis is often a challenge when trying to balance speed and agility. Go too fast and you'll crash into something or go careening off the side of a cliff. Use the brakes to try and turn and it becomes difficult to pick up speed again without a steep hill. What this game has going for it is that, as noted, failure is often entertaining.

Each course has a series of objectives, often related to a target time and a specific number of crashes. While there's a progression system in place, it's also possible to play a much less formal Zen Mode, which allows players to try out every course and go at whatever pace they want. Zen Mode is a fine idea, but the checkpoint system has some severe flaws. It removes set checkpoints and instead allows players to make their own, which is a nice idea on paper, but falls apart if placed at a bad spot. There were several instances where I made a checkpoint on a point where I couldn't move or at a rock where there was no forward progress to be made. Since there was no option to undo checkpoints, it basically forced a restart.

Ski trip

In terms of features, Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders' biggest addition is online multiplayer. Players can either jump into co-op or they can take part in races against seven other players. While the spirit of Snow Riders is to take a solo journey and experience the joy of skiing alone, the game is honestly at its best when going up against other people. Friendly competition makes this game a lot more fun, which is why it's a shame that its online component isn't exactly polished.

Online sessions will test eight players in a series of three races, but depending on player connectivity or whether anybody just flat-out leaves, the game can often get hung up for minutes at a time searching for a host. In some cases, my game hung entirely on an infinite load screen, forcing a reboot. During other sessions, someone simply stopped playing and left their character at the starting line. In order for a session to proceed, everybody has to hit the finish line and there's a lengthy grace period that gives everyone time to complete the course, but if there's someone that isn't playing, there's no option to force them out of the session or to push forward to the next race. Everyone is kept waiting, at which point, some people just leave out of frustration. Some of these problems could have been solved with the addition of bots. Fortunately, small groups of friends can create private lobbies if public matchmaking issues prove to be too much.

The last thing to note is that not only is multiplayer the best way to enjoy Snow Riders, but it's probably the easiest way to progress. The game's leveling system isn't ideal and many of its better skis are locked behind the progression system. In single-player, progress depends on hitting the various objectives from each course. However, multiplayer allows the player to progress after successful sessions, meaning there's less pressure on succeeding and the focus is more on relaxing and having fun, which is supposedly what the idea of these Lonely Mountains are about in the first place.

A warm cup of cocoa

There's a lot of charm in Megagon's series. Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders isn't going to win any awards for its visual style. It keeps things purposely simple with blocky avatars and minimalist outfit pieces. There's a customization system in place, but there's nothing here that reinvents the wheel.

Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders is about chilling out, chasing personal bests, and enjoying the bone-crunching hits that ensue. Ironically, that means this game is at its best when it isn't so lonely. Grab some friends and hit the slopes, but maybe wait for a few patches first.

This review is based on a Steam code provided by the publisher. Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders is available now on PC and Xbox for $24.99 USD. The game is rated E.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?